Celebrations

Pickles, possums and fleas will help bring in 2012 across rural North Carolina.

Jeff Tiberii: The city of Mount Olive expects more than 2,000 visitors for its 13th annual pickle drop tomorrow night. A thirty-pound wooden flea will drop in Eastover to commemorate the New Year. And in the Western reaches of the state a live possum will be lowered, not dropped, 18 feet inside of some Plexiglas. Clay Logan is the organizer of the alcohol-free, family-oriented event.